A day of Firsts for Andy

A personal best, or a British Measured and Released Record would be, and is a great achievement for many of us. But Andy Griffith, a SACGB member has exceeded that by achieving not just a World Record but a World Record First.

18th July 2013 is a date which Andy will remember forever. On that day he set out from Milford Haven for a days shark fishing. Andy recalls being particularly optimistic as three weeks previous he had caught a 235lb Porbeagle. His optimism was not misplaced as he quickly boated nine Blue Sharks, heaviest one being 120.4lb followed by a Porbeagle of 119.7lb.

What happened next Andy describes as, “the holy grail”. He hooked into and boated a 190.4lb Shortfin Mako. The fish got airborne 15 to 20 feet in the air, cartwheeled twice and took 45 minutes to boat.
This was the first ever Mako caught in Welsh waters and therefore an instant, and of course a first Welsh record for the species. It was also the first Mako to be caught within UK water since 1971.

As a strong Catch and Release advocate Andy returned the fish and achieved another first as it was the first Mako to be caught and released safely in UK waters.

The Mako capture was to become even more relevant as having caught three shark species in the one day Andy was able to apply for an IGFA Shark Grand Slam. This was perhaps Andys biggest first of the day (how could he chose?) as even on a worldwide basis this had never been achieved before. The IGFA have recently confirmed Andy’s claim and he is now the proud owner of an IGFA Shark Grand Slam award.

How can you top that? Perhaps never, but as Andy says. “just go fishing, you never know what might turn up next”. A philosophy we would all agree with.